So nice to see you [M]

[Aldon Huang]

Man. Down.

And that little man wasn't going to be getting UP for a while!

Aldon rolled into the back of the seat in agony, closing his eyes tight and moaning. The pain. It was like no other pain, shooting right up into his spine and making the back of his neck tingle unpleasantly. Not even changing during the full moon felt like this!

So no, he wasn't okay! And he gasped out a "No!" to Ryland's concerned question as he rolled onto his stomach, kicking his legs. It fucking hurt!

"I wanted to have kids," he moaned some more, maybe sorta kinda hamming it up a little bit--as he was wont to.

[Ryland Ren]

Okay, dumb question. Any man that had been hit in the private bits knew it was never okay afterward. Even though his voice did quiver slightly with laughter, Ryland said, "Poor puppy."

It was kind of making fun of him but he also kinda meant it, which was why he slid out of his side of the booth and moved over to Aldon, who was thrashing around and moaning like he was about to die. Since Aldon was currently on his stomach, Ryland reached out and rubbed his back gently instead.

"You can still have kids. I don't think your family jewels were that damaged." He paused. "Or you could ask Roe to have them for you."

[Aldon Huang]

"What do I wanna have Roe have kids for me for?! Murderer!" Aldon croaked. Murderer of his future as-yet unborn children, who were mere tiny glimmers behind Aldon's eyes. Was that how the saying went? It was hard to think when his nuts just got crushed against the edge of the table! It was also hard to speak properly, hence his garbled responses. Grammar went flying out the window in times like these, sadly.

"Is everything okay over here?" A concerned--and also somewhat annoyed--new voice joined the conversation. One of the wait staff had come over, looking somewhat put out at the scene that they were causing.

"Fine." Aldon struggled to raise his head, annoyed himself that somebody was butting in on his and Ryland's quality time together. If severe lower body injury and a back rub--not really the place Aldon wanted Ryland's hand--could be considered 'quality.'

"R-Ry. Help me. Help me up." Because Aldon couldn't move, much less make it home right now under his own power and he would rather not keep laying in a pool of cool melting ice cream.

[Ryland Ren]

Murderer was a bit strong--it wasn't like Ryland willfully set out to impair Aldon's ability to reproduce. Admittedly, reproducing was pretty important in their circles. At least, Ryland's family prided themselves on carrying on the family line. Ryland once thought he really would but things had been severely veering off course and straight into.... well. Guys and guys didn't exactly mate to make babies.

"Yes," Ryland said at the same time Aldon assured the wait staff that he wasn't dead, dying, or about to sue their company for something that had nothing to do with the company in the first place.

He continued to gently rub Aldon's back, as if that would somehow ease the pain somewhere else. (Well, he wasn't going to rub him down there, thanks.)

Rolling his eyes and shaking his head, Ryland acquiesced and he carefully helped Aldon sit up in a way that would hopefully not traumatize his poor balls further. Ryland still wanted to half laugh at the predicament--he couldn't help it. At the same time, he also couldn't help that weird little motherly feeling that popped up whenever somebody was hurt in front of him.

Now his hand move to Aldon's shoulder.

"We should probably get you out of... that," he said, gesturing to the ice cream coated clothes. He let out a soft laugh as he reached for the side of Aldon's head, brushing off a speck of it.

"It's all over you."

[Aldon Huang]

The rubbing motion was soothing--to his back. Not so much to the front but to Aldon it didn't make a lick of difference. Ryland was touching him, and that was good enough! For now.

He struggled to sit up, wincing and making a show of being 'injured.' After a while of watching them, the waiter shrugged and went away, probably to gossip about them with his co-workers. Hell, that was what Aldon did when he worked at the theater, puling his twin aside to tell him about the woman in the hideous floral print, or the homeless guy who slunk in through the back hoping to sleep in one of the less crowded rooms.

But he did catch that--that eye roll and head shake. Unrepentant murderer! Ryland didn't even look all that sorry! So Aldon upped his pitiful act, grimacing and gingerly positioning himself to avoid any further injury to that area--his favorite area.

"Ry, it hurts to breathe." He gave the kicked puppy look; extra effective, what with his... er... species and all! Then Ryland laughed and his stomach seemed to bottom out, leaving him slightly breathless. Again. Damnit. That smile. The sound of his laugh... God, he missed that laugh.

"Take me home, Ry." Reaching out, Aldon grasped onto Ryland's arm and tried to lever himself up onto his feet. Yes, he needed to change out of his ice-cream bedecked clothes. It felt gross, honestly, with the melted stuff seeping into his shirt and pants. He probably didn't look too hot, either, with it all over him.

[Ryland Ren]

"I bet it does," he said indulgently, since getting hit in the groin took a lot out of a man. Ryland reached over and gently rubbed Aldon's chest instead for a moment. Not that it was going to help him breathe but it could calm him down if he was a bundle of nerves. Being a bundle of nerves wasn't conducive to recovery.

"All right, all right." He let Aldon grasp onto his arm and helped him up out of his seat as carefully as he could, keeping in mind to help him maneuver by the table and anything else that might be groin height. He glanced down briefly but there was no way in hell he was indulging Aldon by that much.

As he aided Aldon toward the door--every eye in Viva Gelato on them--he asked, "Same place? Or did you move, too?"

[Aldon Huang]

Aldon wasted no time at all in getting close to Ryland, letting him carry the brunt of his weight. "Moved out. Couldn't handle the smell of Roe's feet for another second. I live near Pinehurst now, I'll point out the place once we get there."

Also--he was totally leaning into Ryland Ren and Ryland couldn't even say anything about it, since Aldon was so hurt. Nothing could possibly have pleased Aldon more than a cheap opportunity to cozy up to the man that he seduced and left and came back to only to leave again, multiple times. Nothing at all.

Taking full advantage of his injured state, Aldon slipped an arm around Ryland--purely to stabilize himself. Not an attempt to snuggle up to him, nope. But it did smear some ice cream onto Ryland's clothes too, although they probably couldn't have looked any more idiotic, two grown men (one hobbling) having a childish food fight in an ice cream parlor. Aldon didn't actually feel self-conscious enough to blush but he was acutely aware of the eyes on him and had he not been smashed in the nuts, he might have hammed it up in the moment, too.

However, gracelessly shuffling out was his only recourse and, outside, he let out the howl of pain that he had been holding in this entire time. "GODDAMN THAT HURT!"

[Ryland Ren]

"Oh really."

His tone was completely neutral but some part of him worried about the implications of taking Aldon home to a place with no other people around. Maybe he got new roommates. He didn't have time to ask about it, though, between shuffling awkwardly out the door and Aldon leaning heavily against him. It would have been easier to carry him a full grown wolf than his human body at that point.

The howling didn't help much, either. Wolves and their howling. Where Ryland came from, it was more like a yip. Or whatever the hell that guy imagined foxes sounded like in his annoying song that killed it for foxes everywhere. At least the foxes Ryland knew.

"Standing here moaning about it isn't going to help. Come on, let's get to my car."

Another shuffle and shamble and Ryland paused. Then sucked in a breath.

"Um. Actually, Ald... I walked here."

[Aldon Huang]

Yes, really, why would he lie? Weirdo. Aldon didn't think much of the neutral and cautious tone, although it would have been a lie to say that he didn't think along parallel lines to what Ryland thought--that they would be alone, together, in his apartment. Just the two of them... What a juicy opportunity...

However, walking all the way there pretty much was out of the goddamn question. Maybe as a wolf, Aldon could have sprinted there. As a human with an injured groin, he was lucky if he took another five steps without having to stop for breath.

"Waitaminute." Aldon held up a hand. He gingerly straightened, looking over at Ryland. "Does that mean you live close by? ...you didn't move that far, did you?"

Because he used to live in the neighborhood, and if he walked here then... his new place surely couldn't be on the other side of the city. (Did that say something though? It probably did.)

[Ryland Ren]

Crap. How could he forget that he walked here? Crap, crap, crap. Worse still, that meant he just openly admitted that yes, he did live nearby. At least near enough to walk to Viva Gelato. So he didn't go there. It didn't mean he hadn't passed by it a few times.

"No," he admitted. "I'm just closer to the school now."

And that meant he had moved into a pretty obvious apartment building. The Cascade Apartment building was across the street from the school and it was close to downtown Evermore, which was where Viva Gelato (and many other businesses) happened to be located.

"Think you can make it there?" he asked, somewhat reluctant now that they were going to his apartment. He kinda sorta didn't want to let Aldon know where it was. Just in case. Things.

[Aldon Huang]

Oh, geez. So it was true, then, that Ryland hadn't moved all that far away from his old place--an unnamed apartment further from the university, where rent was slightly cheaper. But it was undoubtedly more convenient to live closer to campus--for those serious about their studies. For Aldon it was an excuse to not go to class because: too far.

He shook his head mildly, exasperated. How many times had he come by, hoping to bump into Ryland? And the guy was just blocks away! Fate somehow intervened, making sure that all year, they just missed one another. Aldon inwardly shook a fist at fate but outwardly just nodded.

"I think so. But if I don't make it..." He lowered his voice and laid his head on Ryland's shoulder for a moment. "Tell my family I love them. Everybody except Lance cause he still owes me money."

[Ryland Ren]

"I didn't mean you were going to die on the way there, you hound."

Still, he let Aldon lean his head against his shoulder for a moment before he lightly patted him on the back. "Let's go. We look like weirdos."

Not to mention how bad it would look if his boyfriend saw them. Or one of his boyfriend's friends. Not that they were doing anything wrong but deep down, Ryland felt like he was. And that likely meant that he was, because it was some sort of mental cheating. He knew he still had feelings for this idiot and it was hard to deny that, even to himself. Let alone trying to have that conversation with his poor boyfriend, who deserved nothing but the best.

He made sure he was at least not jostling Aldon too much and by the time they stood in front of the apartment building, he was side-eyeing Aldon.

"Are you sure it still hurts?"

[Aldon Huang]

"You didn't specify, how was I supposed to know what you meant?!" Indignation reigned in every line of Aldon's face, so wrongfully accused. All right, so Ryland didn't mean that he'd die on the way to the apartment. But if he did--like if he got run over or if a piano fell on him or a plane crushed him--then he wanted Ryland to pass the word along. His brother Lance, however, could go choke on a--you know what--because Aldon was still waiting for those twenty bucks that he lent him for cab fare the other week.

"I'm not a weirdo, I'm hurt," he said in an injured tone as they hobbled off together, Aldon still making sure to lean on him whenever the opportunity presented itself. It presented itself often, as a matter of fact, such that he barely felt the twinges anymore by the time they arrived because he was all distracted by their proximity. If Ryland noticed it too, he was good at hiding it, although... at some point when Aldon got a shade too close, he could've sworn that he felt Ryland leaning into him, too.

"It hurts." He put a hand over his crotch like somebody was going to attack it with another table edge. "I'll show you once we're inside, if you're all skeptical!"

[Ryland Ren]

The look Ryland sent Aldon said it all: like he really thought Ryland was talking about his death. Aldon was hamming it up--he loved to do that whenever he wanted attention. Instead of just being normal about it, he did stuff like this. (And Ryland hated that he knew that about him. Why did he know him so well? Why couldn't he just throw him out of his mind without a thought?)

He thought he was doing pretty good. After the breakup, he felt hollow and empty. To stimulate himself and try and pull himself out of that funk, he started playing video games more and more... until he met Christian. Gamer buds to online friends to boyfriends. It was new age romance.

"You can be a hurt weirdo," Ryland pointed out. Which was exactly what Aldon was. A hurt weirdo. Look at him, being weird. And hurt. And close. Oh, Ryland noticed their proximity. He wished he didn't but he was all too aware of Aldon's hands were and where his body brushed his. God, he wished he didn't notice.

"Yes," he said, about to say I know it hurts when his gaze drifted to where Aldon's hand formed a protective barrier over his crotchal area. It did not help things that Aldon went on to say he'd show him.

"You will not show me!" Ryland said indignantly. As if he was going to stand there and let Aldon pull down his pants and show him what he'd already seen before. (Minus whatever damage he'd taken at Viva Gelato.)

"Just--" He didn't know what to say so he urged Aldon forward. "Let's get inside before somebody thinks you're perving on me."

[Aldon Huang]

"What's the problem?" Aldon asked, mystified (or pretending to be anyway, to uphold his status as the innocent injured party). "It's not like you've never seen it before!" In fact, Ryland had seen it plenty of times in all its glory. Aldon made sure of that.

They were walking through the doors now, into the lobby where a few people were waiting for the elevator. It was actually a pretty nice place; not too shabby, not too dingy or run-down. It wasn't the most glamorous lobby in existence but it was bright and there were even some chairs and couches for visitors. Catching sight of the people inside, Aldon grinned mischievously.

Total payback time for the ice cream attack!

So he lowered his voice and leaned over, lips near Ryland's pretty ear. His grasp on Ryland's waist tightened. "Not like you haven't gotten up close and personal with it, eh Ry?"

He said that in a pseudo-whisper but it was loud enough to carry. Loud enough to be heard by at least one person, who glanced quickly at them with curiosity in her expression.